Introducing the Pacquiao Vs. Hatton Undercard

Golden Boy and Top Rank have selected to use the Hatton vs. Pacquiao undercard as a showcase for some of their best prospects.

While there is a WBC super featherweight title match between Humberto Soto and Benoit Gaudet as the main support bout, the other three fights on the broadcast will feature some of the top up and coming fighters in boxing. Here’s a quick introduction for those of you who don’t know what to expect.

Erislandy Lara
Junior Middleweight
4-0 (3 KO’s)
We will start with the fighter i was most excited to see added to the card. Erislandy Lara is a Cuban former amateur star, and gold medalist in the 2005 world amateur championships.

I have watched three of his four fights and I have been really impressed with him so far. I like the way he controls the distance, and picks his shots. He shows good effective aggression, and is a very accurate puncher. You will see very little wasted motion from him, and there looks to be good power behind everything he throws.

According to Fightnews, De La Hoya said that Lara is looking to break his record by winning a World title in less than 11 fights. So there is a lot expected of this guy. On Saturday night, he is matched up with Chris Gray (11-7) in a four rounder. If he comes through that comfortably, they can start moving him along quite quickly. He’s 26 years old, and with all that good amateur experience, I think he will definitely be able to handle it. Here we take a look at his last fight from back in February against Keith Gross.

Matt Korobov
Middleweight
4-0 (4 KO’s)
Korobov is another very accomplished amateur that recently turned pro. He is a two time world amateur champion, and represented Russia in the 2008 Olympics. He underperformed at the games and was eliminated in the second round by Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan.

Following that he signed with Bob Arum’s Top Rank inc, and has since gone 4-0 as a pro. Arum is keen to make him into a big a star so you will likely see him on a lot of these cards in the future. He’s coming off a bit of a lackluster performance against Cory Jones on the undercard of Cotto vs. Jennings. The result was never in question, but he boxed very conservatively and looked disinterested against an opponent he was capable of outclassing. He did show one moment of brilliance that night though, by scoring a highlight real knockout in the final round.

The first thing i always look for in these former amateur stars is punch power. Korobov seems to definitely have it, and we know he has the technical skills to go with it. I would just like to see a little bit more flair from him when he takes on Anthony Bartinelli (20-12-2) on Saturday.

Featured here is his third pro fight against Roberto Florentino. This is more the type of performance I want to see from him.

Daniel Jacobs
Super Middleweight
15-0 (14 KO’s)

If you have been following the big Golden Boy shows, you have probably already seen “The Golden Child” Danny Jacobs fight. Jacobs is one of boxing’s top prospects. He was featured on the undercard of Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya last December, where he demolished Victor Lares in 2 rounds.

He has notched up two more quick knockouts since then. The most recent of which was only a week ago. Jacobs was added to this card at short notice to replace James Kirkland, who has ran into some legal issues and had to be pulled from the show.

Danny is still a very young pro at only 22, and has been in with quite easy competition. His opponent Michael Walker (19-1-2) probably represents the toughest test of his career thus far.

Walker has a bit of a padded record, and the fight with Kirkland on paper was a huge mismatch. He should provide a decent test for Jacobs though at this stage of his career. A good win here will indicate that Danny is ready to really step up to the next level. This is his fight from last Friday night.

Full Card
PPV Fights
Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton
Humberto Soto vs. Benoit Gaudet
Daniel Jacobs vs. Michael Walker
Erislandy Lara vs. Chris Gray
Matt Korobov vs. Anthony Bartinelli

Prelims
Mike Alvarado vs. Juaquin Gallardo
Abner Mares vs. Jonathan Perez
Bernabe Concepcion vs. Yogli Herrera
Matthew Hatton vs. Ernesto Zepeda
Omar Chavez vs. Tyler Ziolkowski
Joe Murray vs. Missael Nunez

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